


This Old Routine

by Kidd_you_not



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, brief misunderstanding, it was hilarious in my head, people try to use unique greetings when meeting for the first time, winterhawk wonderland gift exchange 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21980203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kidd_you_not/pseuds/Kidd_you_not
Summary: Clint used to have fun looking for his soulmate, now not so much anymore. Figures that he'd find the one by putting his foot in it anyway.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Comments: 20
Kudos: 187
Collections: Winterhawk Wonderland





	This Old Routine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jstabe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jstabe/gifts).



> A long time ago, I saw this post on tumblr saying that in a soulmate AU, society must be structured very differently, greetings especially, and this has been stuck in my head ever since.
> 
> For jstabe and the Winterhawk Wonderland Gift Exchange on tumblr. Hope you enjoy!

When Clint shakes his employer’s hand for the first time, he says: "I have a mustard stain on my shirt but I hoped you wouldn’t notice.“

  
Fury looks him dead in the eyes and answers, "I am aware of the stain and I hate it.“ They nod at each other and sit down, Coulson no more than a presence behind Clint. This is his first day. His first day of working for SHIELD, of being the good guy. He hopes he won’t screw up.

Clint doesn’t really know where all that Soulmate stuff came from or how it works, but what he does know is that it hasn’t always existed. He vaguely remembers something about a portal to another world that had opened up sometime in the sixties and that Soulmarks had started showing up afterward. Something about assimilation. He doesn’t really have the patience to ponder it and he knows it’ll happen when it happens. When it started, the world had been in chaos, but now, more than half a decade later, it has adjusted. Soulmarks have made their mark upon daily interactions and they are there to stay.

SHIELD gives him a tiny apartment in Brooklyn and expects him to not get in trouble until official training starts, so he proceeds to loop the camera feed and break out less than three days later. Serves Coulson right for leaving him bored and lonely, the ass. It sounds more exciting than it is, because the first thing Clint does is go to the nearest supermarket to buy frozen pizza and the strongest coffee blend he can find. When he goes to pay for his meager loot, the cashier boredly scans his items and mumbles an undoubtedly often repeated greeting: "Hello my name is Wendy and I have never been to Neverland.“ Not his words. And also not what’s on her nametag, but whatever.

"'Bond‘ is my maiden name.“ She doesn’t even react and he shrugs. The poor woman must be meeting several hundred people a day, repeating her phrase for years every few minutes. Most people choose a phrase based on the words they are born with and then stick with it. Clint wasn’t one of them. He figured, since he’s bound to meet his soulmate sooner or later anyway, he can switch it up and just blurt out the random crap going through his head once in a while. Like, always. On his way out, he gives a passing guy a wink and practically purrs: "Honey, I’d watch Firefly with you all night long.“ He can hear the other burst into laughter behind him, but he doesn’t turn around. Better luck next time.

SHIELD sends him on one boring mission after the other, but the pay is good and he doesn’t ruin most of them, so he counts it as a win. Eventually, he gets used to having a handler, being on a team and later, after a particularly troublesome job in Budapest, he gets used to having a partner.

It’s after a long leave of absence due to medical reasons that Clint visits the same supermarket he ventured to the first time, again, for frozen pizza and coffee. While he’s waiting in line at the checkout, contemplating his latest fuck-up, he notices Wendy scanning items at the front. He hasn’t seen her in a while, but she looks good, and he’s glad. It happens when it’s almost, almost his turn. The guy in front of him, after hearing her greeting, breaks into a booming laugh. Wendy jumps and all around, people’s heads turn.

"Well, ain’t that a coincidence, my name is Peter and Neverland is where I go on vacation,“ the guy says and for a second, Wendy stares at him open-mouthed and he stares back. Then, she throws her arms around his neck. It’s a nineties rom-com through and through and all around him, Clint can hear people clap and give congratulations, not that the pair could hear any of them. Quietly, he gathers his stuff, puts it back where he found it and leaves the store empty-handed. He likes going to that other one better anyway.

That night, he lies awake, rubbing his latest bruises. He’d gotten benched after slipping and falling from the roof of a four-story house. The extra time doesn’t become him. It tends to make him contemplate life, something he tries to avoid at all cost. In his mind, he can still see Wendy’s face. The one she made when she realized that someone had finally, after what must have been thousands of people, spoken her words.

He falls asleep, thinking that his soulmate could (should) really show up any time soon.

Clint has never had the highest opinion of himself. Hell, there’ve been time that he pitied the person saddled with his unredeemable ass. But after New York… it’s different. The thought of meeting the person he is destined to be with scares him shitless. He imagines finding the one only to open his mouth and blurt, „Hey! My name is Clint and I killed a couple dozen of my friends and colleagues in only three days. Your place or mine?“ Maybe, they won’t find him. He’s stopped using any unique greetings at all. Now, most people think he’s already found his soulmate and he’s happy leaving them in the dark. Maybe he’s different and his other half will never show up. The thought takes a weight off his shoulders and makes it settle in his gut.

He cowboys around with the Avengers some until it inevitably falls to pieces. It’s only when they are already well on their way to central Africa in a stolen Quinjet that he notices the silent, brooding guy sitting in the back all by himself. Clint’s already checked on Wanda, Sam and Scott, so in the spirit of making friends and influencing people, he goes to sit down beside the man. Bucky, he remembers. Steve’s best friend, brother in arms and possibly much more. He’d briefly wondered about whether Steve actually has a Soulmark, since he fell into the ice before they started appearing, but it really hadn’t been any of his business and sounded like a headache in the making, so he‘d stopped. That, at least, was something the supersoldiers had to figure out themselves. It was a shame, because Bucky was too hot to be stranded in a place in which everyone but himself and his bestie had destined partners. _Please, rein in your thirst, Barton_ , he thinks.

Bucky doesn’t react when Clint practically falls into the seat beside him and he doesn’t even twitch when the blond rightens himself with a muttered curse. For a while, neither says anything, until Clint can’t stand the silence anymore. Frantically he searches for a topic and unfortunately for Bucky, and himself undoubtedly, his eyes fall on Bucky’s metal arm. In his mind, he’s vaguely aware that being really insensitive about an unstable, super-deadly guy’s prosthesis might be a bad idea, a real no-no, but his mouth is already open and really, there’s no stopping the avalanche now.

"That’s a nice piece of metal you got there. Does it heat up when you put it in a body?“ Bucky whips his head around and gives Clint a look that‘s two parts incredulous, one part resigned. Not the reaction he was looking for, so he continues, "That came out weird. I mean, is it heat-sensitive? Does it have internal heating? Does it naturally run hot? Or is it always freakishly cold?“ Still, no reaction besides a vaguely concerned look out of the corners of some very pretty eyes. "Okay, so maybe it’s adaptive? If you put it in a warm place it acclimates?“ Still, nothing. Clint might have to up his game. "Alright, alright, if you don’t wanna answer any of those questions, please answer the single, most important one.“ He leans in, his eyes fixed on Bucky’s widening ones. "Do the plates pinch?“

Bucky makes a distinctly chocked noise and for a second, Clint is worried about old-time sensibilities and his possible near demise, but when Bucky finally takes his head out of his hands, he doesn’t look too murderous. Absolutely done, though.

"You know, the thing I regret the most is that the world’s gone mad and I wasn’t there to see it.“

There is an icy hand showing itself into his chest. It grips his heart and squeezes until Clint can’t breathe. That wasn’t… That… No. Not possible. Coincidence. There must be many people who feel like everything around them fell apart while they weren’t there to see it. Bucky isn‘t that special, surely not. In fact, he should really go check on Steve, see if he’s been adjusting alright and maybe offer to fly the plane for a while, surrounded by his friends and not sitting in the dimly lit back of the Quinjet like a weirdo. He tries to get up, but just as he finally managed to get his knees to not buckle, a hand grips the back of his jacket and janks him back into his seat. „Oh, no you won’t!“ Bucky’s voice is a mere growl, almost too low to be picked up by Clint’s hearing aids. „You don’t get to unload all that crap on me and then run away!“

"‘S not what I did,“ Clint mulishly mumbles.

Bucky hisses. "That’s exactly what you did, you asshole!“ Clint clams his mouth shut and refuses to look at the other. After a couple of minutes, he hears him sigh.

"It’s okay you know. I get it.“ Bucky’s voice is almost gently, and heartbreakingly sad. "You can leave, I won’t stop you.“ The hand slides off his jacket and Clint misses it immediately. Oh, hell. Clint you dummy! Way to go, now the guy thinks Clint hates him for what’s happened to him. Something definitely not his fault. He doesn’t know about Clint’s crippling self-loathing.

He squirms in his seat. "That’s not it, really. I’m fine with that.“

"Yeah, you look like you’re having a real good time there, pal.“ Clint has to momentarily admire the amount of sarcasm his (shit, fuck) Soulmate can put into a simple sentence.

"No.“ Clint manages to finally meet Bucky’s eyes head-on. "I’m serious, that’s not why I tried to leave.“ Bucky looks at him, puzzled.

They jump when a pair of boots squeak to a stop next to them. It’s Sam, because of course it is. „Could you guys be any louder? Everyone using the toilet can hear your weird-ass mating whatever it is.“ Next to him, Bucky bristles but Clint only stares at Sam. Bathroom… He isn’t good with words, but his hands never betray him.

And because Clint has already ruined their prospective evenings and figures that it can’t possibly get any worse, he turns to his soulmate and says: „Hey, you wanna head to the bathroom, figure this out?“

He is dimly aware of Sam’s mouth falling open, but he keeps his eyes on the supersoldier’s face. For a few seconds, Bucky looks at him completely neutral. Then he blinks and answers, „Yeah, sure.“ Before he’s distracted by some outstanding mouth-work, Clint registers Sam’s groan and shout: „Hey, Nat, you got any nice Heavy Metal we can listen to for, like, four and a half minutes?“

Bucky slams the door shut.

**Author's Note:**

> Running a little late, but here we go. I really hope this is what you were looking for, jstabe.  
> However, I do regret that it turned out so short.  
> On tumblr, you can find me under [ kidd-you-not ](https://kidd-you-not.tumblr.com/).


End file.
